Weekend Couples Retreat

  This weekend is going to be so awesome. Later today my husband and I have a volleyball tournament against other military members. I have been practicing and working out all week. My arms have bruises on them and I am so sore all over. I hope all of this pain pays off. I haven't played a real game of volleyball since I was on my high school freshman team; so we will see how it goes. But I am so excited about it because I LOVE volleyball! I would play on a team if they had one for people who aren't that good but love the game.
  After the volleyball tournament we get to attend a 3 day/ 2 night couples retreat courtesy of the Air Force. Actually, it is called Marriage Care Retreat but I think couples retreat sounds better. Maybe becuase of the movie. Well it will not be that extravagant but it is a 4 star hotel and is pretty nice from the pictures I have seen. I actually told my husband that we have to stay at this hotel for a romantic get away sometime while we live here because the pool is over looking the ocean. Little did I know we would get it all for free and get to strengthen our marriage at the same time. Yay!
  So I am very excited about this weekend and feel like I need it from all of this moving stress. I have never gotten anything for free before so it's just so weird I kind of don't feel like it's really going to happen. I know it's not like a huge thing but to me it is. Thank you Air Force! 

Back to the states soon

  My sister is getting married next month so I am preparing to leave back to the states for that. I do not have money for a plane ticket so I am going to try to take a hop. I am not excited for the long flights at all! I am so excited to see my family though. I know I just saw them two months ago but I already miss them so much. I am sad to leave my husband. I am worried about him because he doesn't really have any friends out here because we just got here and it takes some time. I am also sad to leave my puppy Ellie. Shes my little baby right now and I am going to miss her. I would love for my husband  to go to this wedding with me. I am always the only one who doesn't have my significant other with me. It gets pretty lonely. But I also don't want to be the only sibling not in the photos and of course I would not miss my sisters wedding! Its not for that long so I don't know what I am whining about. Trips to the states and back just take a toll on you. Its exhausting mentally and physically. I am grateful though to be able to fly and not have to spend a lot of money.

Catch Up

  Last week was a pretty busy week. Tropical Storm Nadine decided to pay us another visit. This time she only got up to 50mph winds so that was good but she did stay longer. It came Wednesday night, stayed until Thursday evening, then I felt like it was going to leave because the sun came out. Friday it didn't rain so much but there was heavy winds. We were lucky not to get any water threw our windows, although this time we did get water between our roof and wall. It went behind our TV and formed a big puddle, which was a  surprise when I found it the next day.
  My husband was stressed all last week because he is trying to get his Bachelors in Education. He wants to be a math teacher and a basketball couch. In order to get an Education degree you have to complete so many consecutive weeks in a class room teaching. He thought he could find a school that would work with him because he is in the military and he can't just take off work to go into a classroom all day. We also assumed that there has been other military members who have done this so the schools would have had to work with them. We were wrong. He talked to a couple of different schools and they all said the same thing; you must be in a classroom for some many full days. I can't remember how many but it is a lot of days especially for those people who already have full time jobs. Anyways, so Jared found a way to be able to make it work. He is going to have to work at night, get off work and sleep for maybe two hours and then get up and go teach at school. Pour baby! Its going to be a long couple of months. I honestly don't want to be here for that because he needs his sleep or he gets really cranky. But I know he is going to need as much help as he can get. So he did find a school that he likes and sent in his application and we are waiting to here back from them.
  On the other hand have still not found a good school for me. Now that I have completed my massage therapy school, which was one of the top schools in the nation, and have been to different places and am one of the top massage therapy people every place I go, I have a bit of a problem with schools; meaning I am a bit picky. Why go to a school that is just okay when you can go to one of the top schools. If I work hard at something I want to be the best at it and get taught from the best. Going online doesn't exactly give me the best education. Also, the top schools in the nation don't have complete online physical therapy degrees.
  Our church asked us if we would accept a calling to be Sunday school teachers for ages 12-18. We graciously accepted and are very excited about the calling. There are so many great things about our church but I will get into that another day. The day we were asked we got set apart and taught that day. The boys and girls are so smart and sweet. I am really nervous because I am not that much older than them and I feel like they have so much more to teach me then I could teach them. But with prayer and studying the lessons I know I will do great. Also, I am so excited that my husband and I get to teach together. I learn a lot from him when he teaches because he is really good at it.
  I know there were more things that happened last week but I cant think of them right now. So Ta ta for now. Have a great week :)

Azores Goals?

  When Jared and I found out we were moving to the Azores there was two things I really wanted to work on, school and braces. So Thursday I went to the education office on base to meet with a counselor and see what my options are. I was disappointed to find out there are no education counselors. There are only counselors representing their own school. So I met with them to see what degrees they offer in what fields. I want to go to school for something along the lines of physical therapy because I already have my anatomy down and I really enjoy it. Neither of the counselors I met have anything around that area besides nursing, which I don't want to do. I can't deal with blood, it grosses me out. So I am trying to figure out what field and school I can get into that is offered online. 

  I also went to the dentist to see about getting braces and was only able to talk to two young ladies that work at the front desk. They said I am not able to get braces and that they only maintain braces for those people who PSC with them on so I can't even go get them in the states because they said they wont help. I am not giving up. I am going to call the insurance company and see what they say. 

  But so far, this sucks :/

  

Temporary Family

  I can't get over how nice everyone is here, American and Portuguese people. There must be something in this Islands water. I am not used to people being so nice. Back at our other duty station everyone was a little more concerned with them selves and the customer service was horrible, on base and off, and back in California, forget it! But people here go out of their way to help others. Our first night in our home our landlord invited us over for dinner to have a traditional Portuguese home cooked meal and him and his wife didn't even know us at all. When we go around the Island the customer service is usually really good. When we are on base the customer service is also really good and people, no matter their rank, actually give you the time of day and are helpful.
  Here on the Island I think everyone is more like a family, especially the military families. We are so far from everything we know and love so we group together forming our temporary families. I have met so many great people here already in this one month I have lived here. If I have to be stuck on this Island for 2 years I am glad I get to form a great temporary family and forever friends.

Power Outage

  The whole Island had a black out yesterday, no power, twice! The first time wasn't to bad, in my village, because it only lasted for about 20 minutes. It was around 1430 and I was cleaning up the kitchen so power was not really needed for that. On base, and other parts of the Island it was off for around 2 hours, that we know of, because my husband came home.
  Right after I had just finished making dinner the power went out, again. That was around 1800. My husband was almost finished with his online homework and was about to turn it in, good thing he saved it because our laptop turns off if it's not plugged in. It was still light outside so we didn't have to eat in the dark. I guess if we had to it would have added a little bit of romance.
  After dinner we cleaned up the kitchen and it was really nice because there was no TV on or any other noisy objects. It was just hubby and I talking and laughing; which doesn't happen a lot because it's always the TV or Xbox taking over the talking.
  At this point the power had still not come on so my husband decided to go to bed and set his alarm for 0400 to finish and turn in his homework hoping the power would be turned on by then. As for me, I am a late nighter and a horrible morning person so there was no way I was going to bed.
  Candles were starting to be needed so I grabbed 4 and set them on the table by the couch. I was getting board fast. I decided to do a little bit of knitting. Every time I knit in front of people they always call me an old women. Frankly I am proud of my acquired talent and in that moment it came in handy. Sitting there on the couch with candles and no noise was making me tired so at 2100 I hit the hey. We woke up at 0300 and the lights were on :). My husband finished and turned in his homework and then we went back to sleep.
  I thought our house was like some great power house because even in the storm when all of our friends had no power we had power the whole time. I feel like this is what I get for bragging to my husband about our wonderful power energy house. But hey, when the Island is out of power, the Island is out of power! I have no idea what was going on on the Island and I don't know if it's a normal occurrence and if it is, depending on the time frame of the day this could turn out to be a really good thing or not so good thing...

My first storm, literally

  Last week Tropical Storm Nadine hit the Island. I had never been in a tropical storm before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought there would be lots of thunder and lightening but there was only rain and wind, and lots of it! I am so glad it was only for a night. And I am more grateful that none of our things were damaged. There was some water that did get in threw the windows and doors but nothing to dramatic.
  That night the wind just kept slamming against the windows so it took me a while to fall asleep. After I finally did fall asleep I had to have woken up at least 10 times that night. I am not going to lie, I do not like storms and I was afraid. Every time I woke up I would think every possible bad thing, like my house being flooded or a window broken. So lack of sleep being the worst thing to have happened that night I would say we were blessed.
  My husband went to work the next day and said he saw a couple of doors bent in half and some fences knocked down. That was the worst of the storm and I am hoping there will be no more storms while I am on this Island. I will say though, the next day was surprisingly beautiful.
  God bless those who will be involved in future natural disasters across the world!